


Lost and Found

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future, Blood, Experimentation, Experimentstuck, Fluff, Multi, Mutation, Sciencestuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-24 23:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave finds himself exploring a labyrinth beneath his home, walking through the dark cold hallways before he finds a strange substance on the ground with glass shattered around it. The sounds in the room is normal, totally normal, hah.</p><p>(Discontinued based on author disconnect. I apologize profusely!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a roleplay between unforgettableCanine and PaperLillyWebs on MSPARP.
> 
> Dave - UnforgettableCanine  
> Karkat - PaperLillyWebs  
> Rose - UnforgettableCanine  
> Jade - UnforgettableCanine  
> John - UnforgettableCanine  
> More Characters to be added.

Dave tried not to shiver in the cold hallways as he walked, eyes blinking in the darkness even with the illumination of the occasional light. How come he's never been told of this place before?

He ignored his common sense and continued to walk along, looking at the door on the wall ahead, and a faint green glow coming through the square window in its white metal frame. As he crept over he made sure to slowly peek into the room, but there was no one in there, he couldn't see anything from outside, just a wall on which the same green light reflects upon. A test of the door handle leaves Dave with the conclusion that the door's unlocked. Huh.

He opens it up without hesitation, talking two steps in before the door shut behind him. Only then did he notice the broken glass and green liquid on the floor. He froze in place, the realization of uncertainty and not knowing what could be loose catching up.

An unnamed creature skids into the shadows of the room at the opening of the door, not anticipating anyone still being here. It dives behind a table, completely shrouded in darkness as scales and feathers shift nervously, the creature wrapping its tail around its feet to keep it out of view. It stays silent, resisting the urge to growl at the newcomer, but truth be told, it doesn't know how to growl. It doesn't know anything, and It's terrified of what's going on, and why it's here, and why it's sticky with funny-smelling green slime. Its heart, though it doesn't know what that is, pounds in its chest.

Dave blinked in the general direction of the table, the movement out of the corner of his eye the only thing alerting him of the presence of the other thing in the room. He's half tempted to just run away, leave whatever this thing is alone and find his way out of these underground passages. He's clearly not supposed to be here. Dave swallows once, just to wet his mouth enough to speak.

"Who's there? Don't joke around and try to scare me, get out of the shadows." No Strider shows his fear, that's what his Bro told him, and that's what Dave will uphold. Even if this thing tries to fight him, Dave's not going down easily.

"Come out." He repeated when nothing happened.

The creature's ears twitch, surprising even itself as they flit towards the sound of Dave's voice, the beast perking up a little. Its intelligent mind immediately analyses the different layers and overtones of his voice, cataloguing fear, pride, and curiosity. It's this curiosity that causes the creautre to shift its haunches forward and slink slowly out from under the table on all fours, a bright red tongue darting out from black lips to lick at the dry skin, wide, cat-like eyes on the blonde inside the room. It makes the only sound it knows how, a soft and clicking mew.

It's only now that Dave sees what it is that he's half tempted to just run the fuck away and never return, never speak of this again. But he still has pride and simply shifts his weight between his legs, trying to decide on what to do or what to say as he looks at the thing, taking in the grey skin spotted with darker markings, wild black hair under which yellow and red eyes just about glow as it looks at Dave with them.

The more unnerving part, though, is the long tail appearing from behind him where feathers poke out from its hips and at the tip of the swaying appendage. It's confusing to even figure out what this thing is, what it's been mixed with, a lizard, bird, or a mammal?

Dave took the smallest step back before steeling himself, moving the foot forward and tilting his head slightly at the creature.

It makes the clicking sound again, claws clicking slightly on the metal floor as it continues creeping forward, more like a kitten in the way it approaches Dave, sideways with a grey skinned back arched and tail swaying, than anything remotely menacing. Though, its claws and slightly-protruding fangs seem to negate that fact, it just tilts its head to the side a little, looking up at Dave.

After a long minute of looking Dave up and down, it starts to think its standing wrong, and slowly, carefully lifts its upper body off the floor. It wobbles quite a bit, tail moving back and forth to learn how to balance itself, before it finally stands upright, looking at Dave just below eyelevel.

Dave blinked at the thing, still kind of frozen, yet to react properly to the... thing in front of him. He slowly lifted a hand up, watching the thing tracking his movements as he simply rubbed his eyes underneath his sunglasses which he stubbornly kept on even in the darkness even though they made it harder for him to see. He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes scrunched closed for a second before he opened them. Nope, the thing was still there, staring at him with those black in red in yellow large eyes of his.

"Hooooooooly shiiiiiiiiit..." he whispered quietly, even though no one but the thing could hear. He kept quiet anyway, trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do. After a few seconds of nothing he took a couple hurried steps back, just in shock now, not really scared, arms sort of changing between gripping his sides and each other.

"Holy shit what's going on??" He was only slightly panicking. Only slightly. Hah.

Now balanced, it swishes its tail slowly, keeping its head cocked to the side as it observes Dave's every movement. It licks its lips again, not in a hungry sort of way, but more of a Toothless (had he seen How to Train Your Dragon) kind of way, eyes bright with renewed curiosity at Dave's rapidly changing expressions, and the strange sound of his voice. It chirrups, blinking and shifting its feet a little in excitement, the smallest of smiles touching black lips.

Dave's eyes widen a little behind the dark circles, mouth open ever so slightly as he stares at the creature, noting how it was excited. Was it young? It looked young, no older than 15 at the least.

"Uh..." He blinked once, twice, and then let his arms fall to his sides, trying to give the thing a smile back, but only half succeeding as the result was a bit wavering. "Can you... understand me?" He asked. It was always worth testing to see if the thing was intelligent, even if it turned out it wasn't.

It drops onto all fours again to walk cautiously towards him, still in a rather kitten-like stance as it tries to mimic Dave's voice. All it can manage is a barrage of clicks and chirps, which don't sound bad to its ears, but are a far cry from what Dave was able to vocalize. It tries again and again as it draws nearer to Dave, then stops in the middle of the room, face contorting in a frustrated frown that it couldn't copy Dave. It stands back up on long back legs, but quicker now, and looks to Dave as if he held the answer to the beast's predicament.

Dave was slightly baffled by the movements and noises that the creature made, staring and blinking at it. After a little bit he manages to figure out what the animal was trying to do, talking once again.

"Heh, uh, not quite, but uh. Use your mouth a bit more, not just your throat, uh, like this?" He points to his mouth and moves it about. "Uh... you don't understand me do you?" He asked again, just double checking. The look that the thing was giving him was enough of an answer. He dropped his hands back to his sides, moving his head side to side to look at the thing properly. In his head he kind of freaked when he realised _oh shit why is it NAKED???_

It, of course, doesn't see the issue. Instead, it just keeps standing there, looking hurt and lost, before it drops back down and sits on its haunches, looking up at Dave. Red-in-yellow eyes quickly calculate the other emotions now on Dave’s face; anger, disgust, violation. It only leaves the creature even more hurt and confused, wondering what it did wrong. Dave's brow creased and it looked down at the lost thing, mouth pressed into a thin line before he crouched down to be level with it.

"Uh... hey? Are you alright? Uh, are you okay?" Since the experiment clearly couldn't understand what he said Dave focused on making his questioning worry get transferred through his tone of voice, allowing himself to actually convey some of his emotions for once in his life. He was wondering whether to reach a hand out, risk getting his hand clawed bitten, or even better, taken clean off, to try and touch it, check to see if it was ok.

It makes a distressed clicking noise, pushing its head towards him a little, as if prompting him to do something. The creature's not sure what, though, so it just keeps clicking, brow furrowed in apology, almost reaching out a clawed hand itself, to touch the other and see if he was actually there. Some part of it was terrified that he wasn't, and that it itself was still in the tank.

Dave very slowly, ever so slowly, almost as if he wasn't moving at all, lifts his right hand up. Why right? Because if he loses that hand at least he can write with his good left hand. He lifts it up above the level of the things head, avoiding the claws that look dangerous enough to cut and the teeth to break. He waits there, hand hovering in the middle of the air, watching how the creature does nothing for a few seconds before he reaches over, just wanting and trying to place his hand in coarse black hair on its head.

The beast hisses a little, not sure where the sound came from, then slowly settles down as the hand approaches. It ducks his head a little, as if to prolong the time it wasn't touching its head, but it keeps its place enough to show it's not completely against the idea.

Instead, it makes a chirping noise of confusion, eyes locked on the hand instead of anything else about Dave. Its tail slides back and forth along the floor, making a rather odd noise, but it calms it some, and it eventually leans its head up to meet Dave's palm, hesitating once, but before continuing.

Dave's surprised, to say the least.

Not only because the hair he previously mistook for being coarse and rough is actually kinda really smooth and fairly well kempt despite being a bit damp, but that the creature actually allowed him to touch it, to let him settle his hand on its head like it was well trained, even if it didn't seem to want the contact at first.

He gently, just gently, hardly moving his fingers, softly scratches at the thing's scalp like you would to a dog. He hopes this isn't too degrading for the thing to be offended by, but it more or less comes down to whether it can differentiate what is degrading and what isn't.

Its reaction is almost instantaneous, eyes slipping closed as a placid look comes to its face, smiling a little as a low rumbling starts in its chest. It pushes its head up into his hand, the strange sound continuing to increase in volume as it shuffles a little closer to Dave. Once it's close enough, it all but collapses onto Dave's lap, contented purring and nuzzling showing its immediate taking to the boy.

Dave blinks, all but taken by surprise as he fights the instinct of defence; to shove the thing out of his personal space, keep the strange creature away from him and to keep himself safe. But it... seems peaceful enough for now. Dave slowly lets his muscles loosen, reaching his second hand up and threading it into the hair, eyes wide and watching the whole scene happening with a confused look, even though he clearly knew what he was doing, he just didn't know why.

Questions kept bombarding him; what is this thing? Why is it out? Why are you doing this? He ignores them in favour of scratching curiously closer to one of the small nubby horns he only just remembered were in his hair, brushing a finger over the smooth surface experimentally.

Its entire body shudders at the touch, a soft mewing sound coming from its throat, before going completely limp against him with a muffled sigh. It curls up close to Dave, head still in his lap as it appears to slip into a doze, feathers perking up for a moment before relaxing again. Its purr slowly fades to nothing, its face going lax as the horn-rubs give it a false sense of security. It makes another chirping noise, one it didn't know was reserved for family, and nuzzles Dave's leg, then falls still again.

Dave's half convinced the thing fell asleep on him, the breathing had slowed down and it had gone still but he couldn't be sure. He was still wary. He shifted his leg so that he wasn't uncomfortable sitting on the ground, looking down at the creature in his lap with a mix of shock and disbelief.

How the hell did he even end up here? It was a maze to get here, it's gonna be harder to get back out. He hopes not but what is he supposed to do about this thing? Help it? Leave it? Should he try to sneak away right now? He slows his hand down, trying to spot any reaction or if it was actually asleep and he could think things over in more detail without something lying on him.

It doesn't wake, shifting closer to the blonde with another chirp, tail curling up around itself happily. Its hair stands in spikes, and bits of feathers stick together. It looks dangerously thin, if it supposedly has the same average body mass as the average human of its supposed age, and, as it relaxes more, its grey skin takes on a faded white pallor, and the smile slips from its lips.

Dave very, _very_ slowly eases his way out from under the creature, placing its head gently on the ground as he looks him over, eyebrows still furrowed and pressed together. Should he leave? Should he stay? Should he take this thing with him? Should he leave it here? He should probably label it a he, even though it looks kinda pretty for a guy and a bit handsome for a girl. Guy suits it a bit better though. Should Dave leave him here and go? He slowly realises he doesn't want to leave it here, but he wants to go, go back home to his apartment.

A thought occurs; can Dave bring him home to his apartment? It is night already after all but he would have to keep him out of sight and quiet so that no one else finds out about the weird creature. He's slowly beginning to like this idea, but the problem isn't hiding him from everyone else now, but more to see if he will learn to understand what Dave means at least. If he doesn't listen to instructions it's going to be very hard to actually keep this whole thing a secret.

Maybe... Dave could carry him home? Save having to wake him up, he glanced at the sleeping figure on the ground again and thought _why not_ before leaning down, carefully scooping his arms underneath knees and shoulders.

After making sure that he had a good grip, Dave began to lift up, pulling the creature up into the air, shifting so that one of the clawed arms was around his neck, the tail hanging down but to the side enough that Dave won't step on it. He shifted the weight of the figure in his arms, settling it more against his chest so it was easier before glancing to the door. It wouldn't be too hard to just put the thing back down and run for it, he supposes, but the creature just... it doesn't seem right for some reason and Dave has a hard time trying to come up with good points about that plan.

He ends up just carrying the creature, using his back to open the door before beginning the walk back to his apartment, through the mazes of hallways and tunnels in the near dark, apparently his shades didn't make him blind enough for the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Karkat is such a cat in this, Jegus! I'm so amazed at how cute he can appear, oh gosh!

After finally making his way back to where he had come into this hidden labyrinth, Dave found it was hard to climb all those steps up then to put the trash cans back into place to cover the entrance like it was before with a dead weight in his arms. He was however thankful that this place was pretty much empty at night time as he cautiously slipped into the elevator. He was also thankful that cameras were at a minimum.

He was half amazed that the creature hadn't woken the whole time he had walked here, and even when he approached his apartment. It took some time but eventually Dave got into his apartment, putting the thing in his arms on the couch before going to close the door. Nothing had interrupted him, nothing yet at least. He glanced to the sleeping figure on his furniture for a moment before moving closer to it, carefully placing a hand in his hair and scratching like before, using his other hand to slowly shake his shoulder, trying to wake him up.

"C'mon, no more sleepy time, wakey, wakey, rise and shine, princess."

It jumps a little as Dave wakes it up, rolling his shoulder back so he can look at the blonde over it, blinking. He makes a curious clicking noise, as if asking what he's doing. When Dave doesn't seem to understand, he rolls over onto his haunches so he's eyelevel with the human, making another series of chirps and clicks, asking him why Dave brought him here. He makes a frustrated noise when Dave very obviously doesn't understand as he let out a small sigh, shaking his head, slightly confused and annoyed that he can't understand what the other was saying. He stopped to try and pick apart his face, but he just appeared frustrated, trying to ask Dave something he can't convey without words both of them could understand. Dave shook his head, dropping the subject and offering the thing a small smile as he stood up.

"Do you maybe want something to eat? Uh... Don't know what you'd like so... how about a sandwich? That's pretty easy and simple, yeah?" The blank look he got showed that the thing didn't know what he had said and he turned around to the kitchen anyway. He was thankful that he had made a sandwich earlier today and had the decency to put it into the fridge on a plate. He cut it in half with a knife before going back out, seeing the thing had moved to the other end of the couch.

He crouched down before it again, offering half of the strawberry jam sandwich in one hand. "It's nice, trust me, and take a bite."

It looks up at the sandwich in surprise, then from the food to Dave. He sits back again, knees to his chest and tail wrapped around his feet as he takes the food, sniffing at it curiously. After a cautious lick, he starts eating it with much fervour, smiling a little again. After he's finished licking his grey fingers of any leftover jam and crumbs, he looks back at Dave and starts clicking again, before stopping and thinking of the stuff Dave had said earlier.

"Sa..." The pronunciation falls off his tongue as completely foreign, and he makes another frustrated sound before trying again. "Sanich." Dave is frankly surprised by the intelligence of the creature, letting out a faint laugh before nodding his head.

"Yeah, sandwich. Good job." He breaks off part of the other half, giving it to the animal/creature/thing, what is he even supposed to call him? "Um..." He lifts a hand up to his chest, holding it there as if gesturing to himself.

"Dave, Dave Strider, that's my name. My name is Dave." He slowly reaches his hand out, watching the other's face for any signs of aggression as he hovers a hand over his chest. "What is your name?" He asks quietly, making sure to pronounce the words properly so as not to be misheard. "Name is what?" He repeats, gaze flicking between the two golden and red orbs of the other.

The creature opens his mouth in confusion for a moment, then closes it. He almost has an answer, but then it slips his mind, and he realizes he doesn't know. He sits back, looking at his hands as he nibbles at the quarter sandwich in his hands, brows furrowed in thought. He wraps his tail tighter around his feet, licking the last of the jam from his lips before looking at Dave, shaking his head slowly to try and tell him he doesn't know.

Dave frowned slightly, trying to wonder why no one would care to give him a name. Then he remembers that the animal in front of him was an experiment, an altercation of Mother Nature and lived in a test tube for some part of its life at least. He shakes away any of those thoughts and tries to offer a small reassuring smile.

"Make one, uh, make name. Like you could name yourself. How about something like Karl or... Katty, if you're a girl... I can't tell, really..." He looked away for a few second. "Make up a name."

"Mke p?" he repeats, the sounds rough, and mostly consonants. He makes a few more sounds, trying to understand what Dave is saying. He sits up a little again, and straightens, trying to sit a bit like Dave as he looks right at him and tries to repeat the names. "Kaa... Karrt." He ends up mixing them together, letting out a frustrated mew and glaring down at his hands again. "Kaar... Karr Kat."

Dave paused, trying to figure out what he was doing before figuring that maybe that was the name he wanted to be called.

"Karkat, huh? Just couldn't decide could you?" He teased with a small snort. He glanced at him for another second before patting the cushion the creature sat upon.

"Stay here, I'll go grab some clothes, stay put." he pointed at the couch then at Karkat, then the couch again. When he thought the idea had gone through he slipped off to his room, pulling open his drawers and retrieving one of his usual red and white shirts and some cargo shorts. When he returned he was thankful to see that Karkat hadn't moved from the couch. He eyed the tail warily though; how will these shorts fit with that tail in the way? He offered the clothes to Karkat anyways.

Karkat looks from the clothes to Dave and back again, as if the idea is completely foreign. But then, he looks closer at Dave, mapping his attire, and takes the clothes from him. He looks down at them then gets to his feet, starting to dress. He seems rather confused by the buttons on the shorts, claws fumbling with it, thoroughly lost. He looks back up at Dave desperately, sharp teeth chewing at his lip.

Upon realising what Karkat is silently asking him Dave can't help but snort, covering his mouth with a hand for a second before nodding and walking closer, crouching down to help.

"I probably should have realised you didn't exactly know how to put clothes on properly..." He clicked the buttons into place before looking at the shirt with an amused look before beginning to take it off Karkat.

"You got it on backwards." He explains, placing it back on him properly. His hands felt oddly empty and he remembered the other part of the sandwich he had accidentally left in his bedroom whilst getting the clothes. After retrieving it he gave it to Karkat with an approving nod, it was his food after all.

The newly dubbed Karkat looks down at himself, fidgeting with the clothes a bit, then looking up at Dave and giving him a genuine, albeit toothy smile. After accepting the food and eating it without hesitating he flops back down onto the couch, and curls up on his side, very much like his namesake, and starts to purr softly again, resting his head in his arms and closing his eyes. He wraps his tail around himself, knees tucked up to his chest.

Dave, still being very curious, watched Karkat with interest, the feet that looked almost human-like even though the undersides were paws, the claws at the tip of the toes dangerously sharp and long. The skin around there, much like Karkat has on his arms, was a darker colour than the rest of his body. Slowly he sat down on the cushion beside Karkat, eyeing his tail curiously now before slowly reaching out, brushing a few fingers over the feathers near the ends, surprised at the smoothness of them.

The reaction is instantaneous. The feathers push outward, and a hard shudder goes up Karkat’s entire body, ending at his lips with a quiet mew. He curls up tighter, purr getting much louder. He eventually sits up and moves over to Dave's lap out of instinct, curling up there and nuzzling his stomach happily.

Dave sort of stares down at the figure in his lap, surprised, but he slowly puts his fingers back down against the feathers on his shoulder, stroking along them and curiously poking a finger at the spotted skin near the base, enjoying the way they shiver and flex when he touches them. With his other hand he puts it into Karkat's head, scratching at it again like before.

A purr explodes from the creatures chest, flexing Karkat’s back, and then curling up again. He mews a couple times, then starts nuzzling him more, puffing up the feathers to get more attention to them. The tip of his tail curls and uncurls languidly in pleasure, pushing his nose into Dave's stomach with a light smile on his lips.

Dave can't help but smile even wider, snickering lightly under his breath as he continues to stroke and pet Karkat, just relaxing and trying to keep Karkat happy. When Karkat's happy like this it just seems to make Dave feel like he's accomplished something, that he did something good. He chuckles a bit louder and scratches around one of the horns, experimenting. Karkat goes practically boneless under Dave's scratching, purr stuttering every few seconds. After a bit, he blinks his wide red eyes open, and looks up at Dave, still purring.

After even longer, he sits up, sticking close to Dave still and locking his gaze on Dave's shaded one. His rather amazing eyesight lets him see through the tinted plastic to the eyes behind, though he can only see shape and movement. Karkat debates something for a long while, making Dave uneasy, before reaching up a hand to take off the blonde's shades.

Dave freezes up, watching as the hand reached out and took his shades off. As it did Dave tilted his head back, closing his eyes before blinking a couple times, trying to get them used to the light before he glanced down at Karkat, eyes squinted lightly since they weren't used to being exposed to bright light. But even indoors his eyes were hurting slightly. He opened his eyes wide anyways so that Karkat could see them, even though his eyes teared up in reaction.

Sometimes Dave hated being an albino; being so sensitive and different.

Karkat sits up immediately, though he doesn't know why. Not even having a good look of himself, he starts to take Dave's appearance as normal, as what everyone should look like. He's still utterly fascinated with Dave, not having seen another living being, as he had been grown in the tube he'd broken out of. He sits up more to study Dave's features unbarred by Dave's shades, timidly tracing over Dave's features with his fingers. He makes a few clicking noises, then leans forward and rests his forehead on Dave's, looking into his eyes.

Dave pretty much has no idea how to react or what to do. Staying there in such a position without his shades to protect his eyes feels like a bad idea as he blinks. Pushing Karkat away from him though might be an even worse idea. He shifted a bit, leaning back just slightly but slowly resuming the petting on Karkat's feathers on his tail, trying to show that he wasn't disgusted or bothered by Karkat, just that the position was different to something he was used to. Offering a small smile didn't seem to ease himself that much as he pulled one hand back to wipe the tears from his cheeks. Karkat immediately sits up more at the sight of Dave's tears, perching himself completely in Dave's lap.

He leans forward a bit, sniffing curiously at the salty substance. After a long moment of thinking, the creature darts his tongue out and licks one of the tears up, pulling his dead back to taste it curiously, Dave making a small disgusted face at being licked, lifting his hand up to rub his cheek where the offending tongue had touched him.

Karkat’s lips slip into a frown at the pain he can taste in them, pulling back more to look around for Dave's shades. After locating them, he slips them back onto Dave's face, then nods in a self-satisfactory way, convinced he'd helped Dave even a little. Dave lifted a hand up to move the sunglasses on his face so that they sit comfortably. He blinked at Karkat a couple times, allowing his vision to return to normal before offering Karkat the smallest upwards twitch of his lips.

"Thanks, much better now." Even though Karkat can't understand him he finds that talking while another being is present is comforting in the most interesting way. He just knows that his friend, Rose, would have a fieldtrip with trying to figure out the inner workings of his mind. He hopes that no one else would even try to come visit his place. Then again, knowing his friends, they would come for one of two reasons. A) to be friendly because Dave is an awesome friend they love to be around, or, B) they just want to tear his mind apart bit by bit, word by word.

Dave pushes those negative thoughts out of his mind so that he can focus on petting Karkat, blinking as his eyes fully adjusted.

Karkat slowly relaxes again, starting to purr again as well as his tail lazily sways behind him. He lets his eyes half-lid in almost ecstasy, his feathers pushing into Dave's hands needily. Satisfied that Dave is no longer in pain, he lets his head rest on Dave's shoulder, nose pushing into his neck as his purr continues to rumble from his chest. He's curious why Dave doesn't purr. Does the blonde not like this? Is Karkat bothering him? He doesn't know, but he wants to, so he sets his mind to learning the pink-being's language, at least a little bit, so there's no longer the language barrier between them.

Dave's curiosity and amazement overcomes his sense of personal space, lifting his chin up and looking at Karkat's head curiously, scratching his fingernails through the surprisingly soft black hair on his head. Dave would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about his new creature friend. He moved to pet the swaying tail with one hand, using the other to curiously touch a horn, gently touching the tip of the horn and rubbing it between a thumb and forefinger.

"You quite okay there?" He asked, trying to convey his meaning through his voice. Karkat purred even louder in response.

  
  


* * *

  
  
Although it was nearing evening and the sun has already set, Rose found it hard to not bother one of her few friends. She paced about quietly in her room, the silence closing in on her as she passed between the window and the wall, ignoring the rest of the items of furniture in the room.

With a final thought she grabbed her keys and left the room, taking the stairs up a couple of floors before arriving before the door that she's been in and out so many times before in the time that she's lived here. She rolls her shoulders and lifts her chin up, knocking on the door without any regret for visiting so late; Dave would no doubt be awake even at midnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger, mwahahaHAHAHAHAHAAA!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeeeere's Rosie!
> 
> -Wow, that took me far too long to understand that summary at all. Good job, Webs- ~Webs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this is long...

In a split-second, the purring has halted, and his eyes are slitted with panic. Karkat scrambles up from Dave's lap, crashing into the coffee table in his terror. He knocks into several other pieces of furniture in his haste to find a place to hide, cutting his hands on a broken glass, and ending up in the middle of the hallway, in plain view of the door as Rose lets herself in. Dave panics and stumbles about, falling from the couch to the ground and narrowly avoiding the glass which he only just saw the red blood drops surrounding. Karkat rolls back into a crouch, staring at Rose in blatant terror, ears flat against his head as a panicked clicking leaves his chest. Dave let out a curse, looking up to Karkat who was staring at something in the hallway.

"Karkat what the fuck what was whaty what?" He can't find the right words as he bolts over to the creature, crouching down beside him as he glanced up, spotting Rose almost instantly and freezing up, watching how she glances between Karkat and Dave repeatedly, face blank. Karkat jumps at Dave's sudden closeness, eyes wide as he looks from Dave to Rose and back again, as if begging for an explanation.

Rose blinked a couple of times, trying to decide how she should feel about this, what is the right thing that she should do if she should do anything. She continued staring at the creature sat on the floor, the feral animalistic clicking noise rumbling from somewhere in its chest, staring at her. She blinked a couple more times, before looking at Karkat with narrowed eyes.

"Do you speak?" She asked sternly, wondering whether this thing was a threat or not, especially after all the commotion she had heard.

Other than the eye-movement, he remains perfectly still, though his feathers perk up in instinctual warning. He quickly realizes Dave and Rose look somewhat similar, but can't get a read on her, emotions even harder to read than Dave's. He shies back at her words, clicking forming more of a whine as he pretty much tries to hide behind Dave, tail swinging nervously behind him. Dave stands up, keeping Karkat behind him as he faced Rose, eyebrows drawn down into a small frown.

"He doesn't speak properly. You're scaring him, stop it." He states, worried about Karkat after spotting the blood on the glass, obviously from Karkat. "Be nice, he's like a child. No picking apart his brain, shut the door and keep this a god damned secret! Who knows what people would do if they found him." He stares back at Rose, body tense with adrenalin pumping through his veins.

Rose flicks her gaze between the creature and Dave, and back again repeatedly until her shoulders fall down and her head tips upwards, she was never one to give in properly without some form of dignity as if this was the plan all along.

"Very well. Could I try and talk to it?" She asks as kindly as possible, adding in a smile that she believes to be sweet as she shuts the door behind her without even having to look. She watches Dave looking between her and Karkat cautiously, thinking the offer over in his head as he slowly steps to the side, allowing Rose to see Karkat fully while he sticks very close by. He makes a vague gesture for Karkat to go closer to Rose, an encouraging look on his face which he tries to hide from Rose as he watches Karkat, hiding how nervous he actually is.

"She won't hurt you. If she tries she knows I'm not gonna be happy." He states, casting a side glance at the blonde girl watching intently with those unnatural violet eyes of hers.

Karkat makes a scared whine, shifting his weight a little to shift further away from her, thrumming in his throat as he steps on his cut hands. He looks from Dave to Rose and back again, not understanding his words, and only sensing his fear and nerves, scaring him more. He can kind of read Rose now, thinking she doesn't mean to hurt him, but he still keeps his distance.

Rose shifts her mouth to the side in thought, watching Karkat curiously before noticing the red blood on his hands. She looked to Dave.

"Go find something to heal his hands, I'll try my best. And don't worry. I won't harm your little pet more than you already have." She says snidely, smirking, amused and smug as she took a slow and calm step towards Karkat, careful not to appear too threatening.

Dave let out a huff, rolling his eyes behind his shades and patting Karkat's head in a "don't worry you're fine" sort of manner before he disappears out of the room and into the bathroom, Karkat watching him as he leaves, like a dog asking where their master is going, then quickly back at Rose, feathers flaring up again warningly when he sees she's much closer than previously.

Karkat makes a confused sound at her snark, not recognizing the emotion, and stops moving backwards, instead just sitting there, and letting her approach. His panic and instinct is quickly overpowered by his curiosity.

Upon seeing his reaction Rose crouches down so she's at his level, hands displayed before herself as if to show that she wasn't a threat. "Hello, my name is Rose." She speaks, voice soft and smooth as she holds a hand up to her chest, indicating to herself. "Don't be scared of me. I'm not going to hurt you." She speaks as if she's talking to a child. Just like Dave, she expresses her emotions on her face, a soft smile and gentle eyes, something she would never do before another intelligent being.

He grabs some bandages and disinfectant. To give Rose more time with Karkat he decides to clean up the broken glass on the floor as well. Rose may be a very interesting character but she isn't bad. He listens closely, putting the broken glass into the bin before returning to the living room, picking up some magazines that had fallen to the floor in Karkat's mad scramble.

Karkat's tongue darts out of his mouth to lick his lips, trying to gauge Rose's threat level. Unfortunately, it's more just... neutral than anything. His eyes flick down to Rose's open hands, then sits back on his haunches and copies the action like he'd done with Dave a few times. Upon realizing he's bleeding, he sits back more and studies his hands intensely, fascination at the red liquid winning his attention from Rose for the time being.

Rose watches him intensely, curious about how he's reacting to his own blood on his hands. Shouldn't he be hurting? In pain instead of being fascinated? She tilts her head curiously, watching him study his wounded hands. After a moment passes she holds a hand out, flicking her fingers back and forward expectantly, looking between Karkat's hands and his face to convey her meaning.

"May I please see your hands?" Dave stops and stands in the doorframe, watching this display with masked emotions, unsure how he's really supposed to feel about having Rose be so close and possibly touching Karkat, his new friend, not pet. Karkat's more human than animal in Dave's mind, more intelligent than a dog. Besides, in these apartments you could only have cats, which Rose took full advantage of this fact and kept two cats in her apartment; Jaspers and Vodka Mutiny, a.k.a. Mutie. Mutie was cool.

Karkat looks at Rose, pulling his hands closer to him for a moment, then slowly holding them back out to the blonde woman. He still manages to shrink back a little, head tipped to the side to watch her as he lets her take his hands into hers. There's a distant notion of pain, but his heart still pound with adrenalin, rather preventing him from feeling anything of the sort at the moment.

Rose pointedly ignores Dave as she carefully takes hold of Karkat's hands so that they were palm up, looking at the cuts on them with interest before speaking, not even looking away from the appendages in her grasp.

"You're going to have to get some tweezers too, Dave. A small shard of glass appears to be embedded in his palm." She states, blowing cool air onto Karkat's wounded skin to try and ease the pain with the cooling sensation.

Karkat makes a small yelping sound, jerking back away from her and almost tumbling over himself to get away from the strange feeling of her blowing on his hands. He does end up tripping a little, one hand making a bloody mark on the hardwood floor of the hallway. He looks at Dave for an explanation of what just happened, keeping his distance from Rose now, huddled on the floor a good bit away from her.

Dave let out a small sigh, vaguely amused. "Don't worry, she's not hurting you. It helps blowing on it, trust me. Helps with stings too, nice and cool." Dave cringed his eyes, thankful that Rose couldn't see them, before nodding, looking at Karkat once again before disappearing back into the bathroom and scouring through the cupboard before finding the tweezers. He glanced at some painkillers curiously, thinking, before he grabs them and heads to the kitchen, returning with his supplies and a piece of bread in his hand for Karkat to eat. He crouches down to the side, holding out the medical stuff to Rose. He supposes that he should let Rose gain a small amount of trust with Karkat if not all of it. He hopes this disinfectant doesn't sting too badly...

"Nothing too bad though, yeah?" Rose nods approvingly.

"Does he even understand what we say?" She asked, holding her hand out to Karkat to accept his hand again, hoping that her calm expression and Dave's encouragement would be enough for him to trust her enough. Karkat makes another confused noise, pulling his hands back to his chest, and letting his feathers (the ones not under his clothes anyway) stand up on end again. He takes another shuffle back, away from her, starting to feel the sting now, and the slightly worse, throbbing pain of the embedded glass.

Dave lets out a small sigh of faint frustration before waving the piece of bread in front of Karkat. "You can get this if you do what Rose says, okay?" He pulls the food out of reach and gestures to Rose who watches Karkat thoughtfully.

Karkat perks up at the scent of the bread, eyes following the movements of it even when Dave removes it from his reach, then lets his gaze shift to Rose. Rose still holds a hand out to accept Karkat's into them, being as patient as she can be. She might seem cold on the outside but, inside, everyone cares about something or someone, even a stranger, or in Rose's case, an unknown creature that is hurt. Karkat gets that she just really wants to help, but still finds it difficult to get himself to a place where he can approach her again. He shuffles forward after a little while, not quite use to walking on two legs, so has to put weight on his hands, wincing this time.

"Come now." Rose flicks her hand again, keeping the tweezers back and hidden from sight in case they spook Karkat. "Dave, does he understand what I'm saying?" She asks for what feels like the millionth time to her. She tries to keep the annoyance out of her tone though.

"He doesn't, but I think he can understand our tone of voice and actions well enough. Just act as if you were talking to a baby. That seems to work for me. His name's Karkat, by the way. He said it, not me." Dave shrugs, watching closely and giving Karkat a small encouraging smile.

He mumbles something in his strange language, then moves forward again, slowly holding out his hands for Rose to take. Once they're in her hands, he cocks his head, ears perked and remembering what Rose had been saying before. He's too intent on her face to register the sting of the disinfectant, so he makes a couple clicking noises before saying,

"Rozz." Rose makes a small hum of acknowledgement, focusing on cleaning Karkat's hands but listening to what he's saying as well.

"Yes, Karkat?" She speaks, daubing the cream over his cuts and cleaning them, trying to be careful around where she suspects the piece of glass is. When she's satisfied that it's clean and not infected she places the disinfectant down and picks up the tweezers, her grip on Karkat's hand tightening as she prepares to pull the shard out. Karkat definitely noticed that jolting in her grip and squeaked, face pinching up in pain and panic.

"Devv, Devv, Devv," he repeats desperately, face scrunching up more and trying to jerk away from her.

"Stay still." Dave says, moving closer to Karkat and placing a hand on his back, keeping him close to Rose and watching her movements intently. Rose ignores the two, focusing on removing the glass shard. She has to keep her grip tight to make sure Karkat doesn't move as she carefully grabs the edge of the glass visible from between the cut skin, carefully pulling it out as straight as possible so as not to hurt the creature too much, even though it clearly is hurting him.

Feeling slightly betrayed, Karkat jerks a couple more times, then just stops and whimpers instead, arm tensing up in pain as she removes the glass. He whines, huddling up close to Dave who can't help but feel bad about this, patting Karkat's back and watching as Rose released her grip on his arm to put the piece of glass off to the side to bin later.

He moved and petted Karkat's head. "Good, Karkat, good." He spoke gently.

Rose remained as professional as she could, placing the tweezers down gently on the wooden floor and picking up the bandages in one hand, her other held out to Karkat. She had to make sure he trusted her enough that she was helping him, not harming him. He only lets her take his hands again because he doesn't sense any harsh intent. He calms down after a while, still whining every now and then, but a little curious as to the feel of the bandages on his skin. When Rose is done Dave lets out a small sigh, patting Karkat's head and holding the piece of bread to him, hoping that Karkat can use his hands enough to eat the bread at least.

"Good job, Karkat. Very brave." He praises. Karkat whines once more before taking the bread. Rose offers him a small smile before she clears up the utensils, leaving the room and packing the items away. He stays hunched up close to Dave as he nibbles on the bread. After a little while of just munching, he puts the last bit of bread in his mouth and sniffles. He wipes his eyes on his sleeve, the cloth coming away a little stained from his tears.

"It's okay Karkat. Rose was helping. She was making you better." Dave states, blinking in surprise as Rose entered the room with a plastic cup of water. Then he realised that in his impatience to make Karkat better he'd given him the bread without the pain killers. With a nod of thanks he places two pain killers into the drink before offering it to Karkat, hoping that he won't chew the tablets and just swallow them like he was drinking.

"Drink this, don't chew, just swallow."

"Cheww." He says the word, as if tasting it rolling over his tongue, then takes the cup from Dave and swallows it obligingly.

"Yes, chew." Rose repeats, watching the duo curiously. Karkat coughs as the painkillers scrape his throat, drinking the rest of the water quickly to get the scratchy feel from his throat. He then hands the cup back to Dave with a few clicks of thanks, and begins to inspect the bandages on his hands, his tail curling up around his feet. He leans on Dave a little, picking at the edges of the bandages. Dave lets the corners of his mouth twitch up slightly, watching Karkat lean into him with amusement and how he eyes the bandages, foreign.

Rose is surprised at how attached Karkat is to Dave. She raises an eyebrow but doesn't interrupt as she waits in the doorframe, watching them curiously. This creature may appear like a child but Rose wasn't ready to put her guard down just yet. She crosses her arms, spotting how Dave watches her out of the corner of his eye, he knows she's there.

Dave lifts his hand back up and scratches through Karkat's hair, like a pat on the back, reassuring and friendly. He's always amazed by how Karkat reacts, it’s so different, so strange, so alien, yet, it's so interesting. Karkat starts purring softly, closing his eyes as well as his hands and nuzzling into Dave's hand. He remains aware, and wary of Rose over in the doorway. In fact, he doesn't let himself relax all that much, though he knows Rose means no harm. He finds it hard to trust anyone besides Dave, but he does want to meet more people other than these two.

"How long has he been here?" Rose asks, all calm and collected in her voice and posture. She watches Dave and Karkat quizzically, surprised by their interactions. Maybe Karkat was here last time she visited a few days ago and she just hadn't noticed or Dave had hid him somewhere in his apartment. She wouldn't put that above him though.

"Uh, just, about half an hour ago, -ish?" Dave replies. "Damn, he is such a cat." He thinks aloud, a small snicker leaving his mouth. "I don't even know what he is but... but I found him underground. I think he was a test subject. I found him in some room and there was glass and slime all over the ground. I just couldn't leave him there so... when he fell asleep I carried him here." He finishes, licking his lips.

He continues to purr quietly, though opens his eyes and watches Rose and Dave talk, cataloguing their dialogue for future reference, as well as their emotions when using certain words or phrases. He got... some kind of feeling from Rose, as if she didn't think of him like she thought of Dave. He wishes he could understand what they're saying so he can try to make some parallels, but he knows it's hopeless at this point, so he lets out a disgruntled sigh and closes his eyes again.

"Go put him to sleep; he seems tired and I think the rest would be appreciated so that you don't overstimulate him. Would you like me to help you with anything or do you think you can handle this on your own?" She asks. She was always one to enjoy meddling, whether it in a helpful way or not.

Dave shook his head. "I can handle this. You can drop by tomorrow though... wait, I have school tomorrow don't I?" He asks with disappointment clear in his voice. He has to leave Karkat at his place...

Then he remembers Rose. "Could you look after him tomorrow while I'm at school?" He asks, hoping that she would agree to it.

"Of course I can, not like I have anything else of importance to do." She offers him a smile. "Now, go put him to bed somewhere, and maybe you should think about telling John and Jade of this; Jade might help look after Karkat if I can't and John IS your best friend."

Karkat sits up a little, looking from Dave to Rose, then back again, frowning. He makes a few confused clicks, then another sigh as he tucks his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around himself, resting his chin on his crossed arms. He remains watching them, teeth tugging at his lip a little in confusion as to the situation, wishing he understood.

Dave nods. "Yeah, yeah, I'll think about it. C'mon, Karkat, sleep time." He pets Karkat's head again, standing up and trying to get him to follow as he walks towards his bedroom, trying to think of where to put him. "Let yourself out when you're ready. Lock and shut the door behind you too." He tells Rose.

Karkat sits up again, looking at Dave in surprise, and then getting to his hind feet to follow him, fidgeting with the sleeves on his shirt. He sticks close to Dave, though glances over his shoulder at Rose. She nods, giving them both a small smile.

"Goodbye, Dave, goodbye Karkat." She speaks gently as she turns around, walking towards the door and opening it, waving a hand behind her as she locks and shuts the door, heading back to her own apartment.

"C'mon" Dave speaks again, walking ahead and into his bedroom, looking around, thinking. Where the hell can Karkat sleep? "Where do you want to go?" He asks, gesturing around the room for Karkat to check out. Having Karkat sleeping in his bed at the same time as Dave? Coughcoughweirdcoughcough. Maybe Karkat could go on the top of the covers? Like a dog would, yeah.

Karkat peaks around Dave and eyes the bed with interest, no idea what to make of it. However, in finding most of Dave's clothes strewn about the floor, he drops down onto all fours and flicks his ears. Instinct kind of kicks in and he starts shuffling all of the clothes into a pile under the window by the bed, making a decent-sized nest.

Um...

Dave blinks; a mix of surprise, confusion and curiosity. He wasn't doing anything wrong, he supposes, so he doesn't bother with stoping Karkat.

"As long as you don't make too much of a mess or ruin my clothes, sure you can sleep there." He says with a shrug, pulling off his shirt and tossing it onto the pile before climbing into bed, covers pulled over him as he watches Karkat. He's only slightly nervous about having some kind of creature in his room while he sleeps, defenceless. He doesn't think about that, watching Karkat.

After making it satisfactory, he burrows into the pile until only his horns and the tip of his tail poke out, curling up around himself completely like he had on the couch. Dave chuckles lightly, watching the tail tip poking out of the pile moving slightly. He lets his ears relax against his head, letting out a contented sigh before dozing off rather quickly, a low thrumming in his chest.

When he thinks Karkat is asleep Dave rolls over, closing his eyes and letting himself fall asleep as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long chapter, welp. *shrug*

"Come on now, Karkat. Come out of there. We wanna show you something!" Jade said cheerfully, just gently nudging the pile with a hand, nervous. "Please? Karkat?" She looked to Rose for some help.

Karkat just thrums louder and ignores her, wondering where Dave could have possible gone. He sends Jade a quick glare of annoyance, and tries to go back to his brooding.

"Karkat, come out, we wish to speak to you and it is rude if you continue to hide in the pile like that."

"Karkat, Dave told us to look after you and we are going to have to get along during the times that he's at school, okay? We want to help you." Jade shuffles about, moving some of the pieces of clothing around, trying to find Karkat's head.

Karkat growls, retreating more into the fabric and lashing his tail around, snapping his jaws at Jade's hand, not really intending to get her, and luckily not; just scare her a bit. Jade squeaks and jumps back, frightened; those teeth looked small, yes, but sharp, like a shark's. He hisses loudly, backing up more into the pile again. Rose sighed, bothered by Karkat's behaviour. It seems that she is going to have to pretend to be his mother for the time being. She raised her chin up and walked over, pulling away the pieces of clothing from Karkat.

"This is ridiculous, Karkat. Just come out already. You know that we don't mean to harm you."

"Not ridiculous," he huffs at her, scowling childishly. Karkat gets up though, sitting up and ignoring jade completely to glare at Rose.

"Out, out of the room, go on, out." Rose points to the door, making a shooing motion and taking a step towards Karkat, keeping her shoulders and head lifted. "Karkat, out."

Karkat's eyes widen in surprise, then narrow into a glare. He rises himself up onto his hind legs, shorter than Rose, but still menacing. "Not. Ridiculous." Not entirely sure as to the meaning, he hopes he gets his point across that he doesn't want to be treated differently. He's definitely noticed how Rose treats Dave differently, and not just because she knows him better.

"Karkat, I will not tolerate your childishness if you do not _listen_ to me!" She scowled, glowering right at Karkat. After a moment thinking she lets out a small hiss like a cat, seeing if this will provoke a reaction from Karkat. "Out, out, Karkat out, now." She pointed to the door repeatedly, keeping her head and shoulders held high.

"Shut up." He doesn't know where that came from, but he did not want to be treated like this, like... an animal. Vague memories of brief moments of consciousness in the lab makes him remember being treated similarly crop up, causing him to growl and ignore all of Rose's instructions.

"Karkat, we are only trying to help you, you need to come out of the room though, okay? Well come with you." Jade stood behind Rose, managing to overcome her fear.

Rose nodded approvingly, placing her hands on her hips. "Karkat, out of the room if you will."

"No." Karkat stays on his hind legs, feathers standing on edge angrily, no longer trusting nor liking Rose as he had before. "No," he repeats.

"Jade, we can try and herd him out of the room. I'm not going to stand in Dave's bedroom for the rest of the day; it smells atrocious." Rose moves and places Karkat between herself and the door.

Jade joined Rose's side, looking at Karkat in annoyance. "We're trying to help you, Karkat, okay?"

"No." He drops down onto all fours, looking between the two girls, then bolts out of the room, running for the front door. He slides to a stop, but gets it open this time, making it out into the hallway and looking around. Hearing the girls behind him, he sprints for the stairwell up to the roof, making it to the top.

"Karkat! Come back here! Karkat!" Rose bolts up the stairs, up onto the roof and looking at Karkat with wide eyes. "Karkat, come here _this instant!_ This is _not safe!_ " Her voice may appear stern but she really is afraid for Karkat's safety.

"Karkat, please, just come back inside before someone sees you!" Jade pleaded, taking a few small slow steps towards Karkat.

Karkat stands up again, bearing his teeth angrily at her as he stands near the edge, far enough away not to be in too much danger. He flexes his claws warningly at Jade to keep her away, feathers on end. His pupils slit in anger, tail thrashing behind him.

"Do I need to get Dave?" Rose spoke, thinking that maybe she could call Dave and get him to talk Karkat into going with the girls. "Dave wanted you to listen to us, come inside, we want to help."

"Please Karkat, just come inside, come here." she held her hands out towards Karkat, trying to beckon him closer.

"I don't want help," he hisses, rising himself up even taller, bearing his teeth more.

"You may not want it but you cannot deny that you need it." Rose spoke, trying to keep her voice smooth and even.

"I don't. I'm fine." Karkat can sense the fluctuations in Rose's tones and body language, her anger, annoyance and fright, and he can't stand it, knowing she doesn't trust him.

"Karkat, please, hurry up! The longer you're up here the higher the chances are that people will see you! and they'll take you away, you won't get to see Dave, or meet John, KArkat you have to listen to us, we know what's best for you, okay?"

Karkat snarls, dropping back to all fours and snapping his jaws again. "Don't know anything!" He makes a half-lunge for Jade.

Jade covers her mouth quickly, letting out a scream into her hands and stumbling backwards, falling to the ground.

" _Karkat! No!_ " Rose hisses out, unsure of what to do.

Not planning to actually attack her, he takes a step back, still growling loudly at the two of them, not wanting them anywhere near him. Jade stays on the ground, frightened. Karkat just raises his haunches again, growling loudly.

"Karkat!" Rose spat out, stepping between Jade and him. "Enough! All we want is for you to go back inside, okay? Just come back inside, try to talk to us, we don't want to hate you, we want to be your friends, close friends, protectors. Please, Karkat." Rose took a very slow and cautious step forwards, hands extended towards Karkat encouragingly, hoping he will come closer and cooperate.

Karkat hisses at her, feathers and ears flat against him, liking Rose less and less as time goes on. He wants Dave back; he wants Dave to make Rose go away.

"Karkat, please. Dave will come back later but in the meantime Dave asked us to look after you. Just come back inside, okay? We can't leave you up here. Do you want me to call Dave? I can call Dave, yes?" She was nearly desperate; this could turn fatal at any moment if Karkat went in the wrong direction.

Karkat only picks up Dave's name in her little speech, not understanding pretty much anything else she's saying, though judging by her desperation, it has something to do with him... Karkat relaxes just a little bit, eyeing Rose nervously for a long few minutes, then nods.

Rose slowly pulls her phone from her pocket, lifting it up and picking Dave out of her contacts, opening it up and ringing. Dave answers it after a moment. "Dave, I need to you to talk to Karkat. He won't listen to us. I need you to persuade him to listen to us." she waits a moment before holding the phone out towards Karkat.

"Here, Dave is on here."

Curiosity once again taking over, he drops down to all fours again, approaching Rose and the phone cautiously, head cocked a little in interest. Once close enough, he sniffs at it, then looks at Rose in confusion.

"Hey, Karkat? Helloooo? You there?"

"Devv?" Karkat perks up a little, looking around for Dave in confusion.

"Yo, on the phone, Karkat. Follow my voice, the little thing in Rose's hand."

Karkat sniffs the phone again, frowning. "Devv?"

"Hey, Karkat, you gotta listen to Rose and Jade, okay? Do what they say, they'll help. You have to trust them, I trust them, you have to too. I'll be back in a while, but listing to Rose and Jade, do what they say, they know what's best."

"Don't know what's best," he says, voice hinting at a whine, sitting on the ground with a huff. "I'm fine."

"No, Karkat, no. Listen to Rose and Jade, I', telling you to listen to-- Hang on a tick, family troubles, okay? -- you have to listen to Rose and Jade, okay?"

"No," he whines again. "I'm fine." He wraps his tail around his feet, pouting even though Dave can't see it. He ignores Rose once again, denying her existence completely.

"Karkat, no." Dave uses a stern voice. "Do what they say, okay? Or I won't come back, I'll stay at school. Listen to what we say, okay? You don't understand some things."

"I understand fine..." Karkat crosses his arms over his chest, grumbling. "I'm... safe."

"No, Karkat, no. Listen to Rose and Jade, now. I'm not leaving until you god damned listen to them, okay?"

"I'm fine," he repeats huffily. "I don't... enjoy them." He sends a glare at Rose and Jade grudgingly. "Mean."

"Do what they say, Karkat. They want what's best for you. And be nice!"

"No! I don't enjoy them!" Karkat gets to his feet again and starts to pace near the edge, grumbling rapidly to himself in his own language.

"Karkat! Why is there wind? Oh my god, is he OUTSIDE?! FUCK! -- give me a moment Jesus Christ!" Karkat just growls in the general direction of the phone, huffing and continuing to pace. "Karkat, Jesus, what are you doing?"

"Walk."

"Karkat, get inside, you're not supposed to be out! Someone could see you!"

"Roof," he huffs, glaring at the phone again.

"You're on the ROOF?! Get DOWN! Get back INSIDE!"

"I'M FINE!" Karkat raises his hackles again, snarling.

"Karkat, Jesus Christ, no, inside, c'mon, now."

"Why? I'm fine." Karkat sticks up his feathers angrily, not understanding the issue.

"Karkat, if someone sees you they'll take you away, you won't be able to see me anymore, you'll be locked up and treated like an animal. Bad."

"No one up here," he snaps, once again ignoring the two girls still on the roof. "Alone."

"But people could look out of their windows from the other buildings and see you! Or the people on the ground!"

"So." Karkat sits down again, clicking angrily at the phone before him.

"Karkat, they'll take you away. Just, just go inside, okay? Please?"

"No."

"Karkat."

"Devv."

"Go inside."

"Don't want to."

"You have to."

"I don't."

"Yes, you do, Karkat."

"Why. I'm fine."

"You will be better inside."

"I will not.”

"You don't know this for sure."

"I do." Karkat's tail slides annoyedly back and forth on the rooftop.

"Karkat, just go back inside. What do you want me to do, huh?"

"Nothing," He mumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Karkat, go inside please. I'll be home before you know it."

"Liar." Karkat definitely doesn't know where that came from, but he knows he means it, huffing.

"It's a saying."

"I don't care."

"Go inside Karkat."

"I don't want to!"

"Karkat, do you want to see me?"

"Of course..."

"Then go inside. Okay?"

"I don't want to."

"Karkat, you have to listen to me, okay?"

"You're not here."

"I will be back as soon as I can okay? But you have to be good."

"I am being good."

"No, no you're not. You have to listen to Rose and Jade."

"I don't like them!"

"Did you give them a chance?"

"Yes. I don't like them."

"I've barely been gone for, what, half an hour? That's not enough time, Karkat. Go back inside and try again."

"I DON'T LIKE THEM!" Karkat jumps to his feet again, hissing at the phone. He knows he's being stupid, and what the humans call childish, but he doesn't much care at this point.

"Karkat, listen to me. We only want what's best for you, okay? But you ahve to let us help you."

"I don't care!" He lashes out at the phone, knocking it from Rose's hand and sending it flying.

The phone nearly falls off the building but Dave's still talking. "Karkat?! What was that?! Karkat?! Are you okay?! Fuck!" Karkat makes a bolt for the stairs again, leaping clear over Jade.Jade scrambled to her feet quickly, bolting after him.

Rose sighed and grabbed the phone before chasing after Jade chasing Karkat. "He bolted down the stairs." She states before hanging up.

"Karkat! Come back!"

"Go away!" Karkat shouts back, skidding down more flights of stairs than it took to get back to Dave's apartment.

"Karkat! Someone might see you!" Jade shrieked, panicking as she tried to go down the stairs and catch up with Karkat. Using his tail as balance, Karkat leaps down an entire flight, landing with a skid and slamming into the corner of the wall and the landing, before taking off again. Jade can hear Rose behind her and she tries to run down the stairs even faster. "Karkat! No! Stop!"

Karkat screeches loudly in her direction, hissing angrily before taking off down a hallway somewhere near the ground floor.

"Karkat, Karkat, Karkat!" Jade wheezes slightly and slows down, panting heavily. "Please, Karkat!" Karkat skids at a sharp turn, running headlong into someone much taller than him.

"Oh no..." Jade stares in mild terror.

"Karkat!" Rose hissed before spotting the man staring at Karkat and freezing.

Jade moved first, running towards Karkat. Karkat just kind of sits on the floor, staring up at the man before him with wide-eyed interest. The man continued to stare back, eyes wide in shock, before Jade came crashing over and wrapped her arms around Karkat's shoulders. Karkat jumps at this, screeching again and struggling to get out of her arms, thrashing a little. Jade just keeps hugging him, trying to pull him backwards from the man still staring in shock, frightened.

Struggling harder, Karkat manages to break free and stand up to his full height, admittedly about two feet shorter than the other man, but still rather impressive. The man simply drops the bag he was holding and bolts down the stairs. Jade hugs Karkat again from behind, pinning his arms to his sides, making sure she can't get hurt.

"Karkat, you _idiot_! He _saw_ you! Do you know how much trouble you're going to be in? How much trouble _we're_ going to be in?!"

"Asshole," Karkat mutters, glaring at the retreating figure then turning his glare at the girls. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine until you go back to Dave's apartment since they're probably going to search mine and Jade's when the man contacts authorities.”

"Auth..." He grumbles, shrugging and dropping back onto all fours, displacing Jade. "Authorities."

"They'll take you away, you won't see Dave, or us, and they'll be mean to you. You have to go back to the apartment."

Karkat looks between the girls, tasting their fear and panic, it ultimately affecting him to the point of just nodding silently.

"Come on, let's go back, okay? Come on, Karkat." Rose makes a gesture for him to follow as she moves back towards the stairs.

Karkat hesitates with a small growl, realizing Rose isn't going to treat him how he treats the rest of the pink creatures, so just follows her anyway.

Jade keeps behind Karkat in case he tries to run, following Rose leading Karkat back upstairs to Dave's apartment.

Once inside, Rose closes and locks the door with a key behind the other two so Karkat cannot get out again.

Once back inside, he goes straight for the pile in Dave's room, fixing it up again, then curling up in it, feeling rather sore from all the crashing into things. Completely submerged in the clothing, he picks at the bandages on his hands, sniffing where some of the cuts have reopened.

"No, Karkat, we want to show you something, okay? Come out into the living room." Jade tries to encourage Karkat out of the pile, pulling some of the fabrics back.

Karkat hisses at her, bearing his teeth. "I don't want to. Not now."

"It'll help you learn English. Learn how to speak with us and talk and communicate."

“Not. Now.”

"If you don't watch it now you can't watch the kiddie shows because they aren't on in the middle of the day. And you won't be able to learn. And it's really fun."

The sound of sesame street rings throughout the apartment. Rose replaces the remote on the couch and walks into the kitchen, preparing some toast for her to eat.

"I said no!" He throws a pillow at her in hopes it'll get her to leave.

Jade lets out a small "oof!" and looks at Karkat in annoyance. "I'm not leaving until you come out of there mister!”

“NO!”

"If you do not come out of this room I will lock the door and you won't be allowed out for the rest of the day." Jade warns, putting her hands on her hips.

"Fine!" He throws another pillow at her, before burrowing deeper into the layers of fabric, growling lowly. Jade let out a huff, turning away and storming out of the room, making sure to shut the door louder than necessary.

He flinches a little at the loud sound, growl dissipating immediately as he curls up more and waits for Dave to get back, sighing softly.

Rose took a bit of the toast with jam on it, eating and swallowing before speaking. "I think Dave was correct when he called Karkat a child. He acts very much like one."

"Yeah, and it's so FRUSTRATING! He won't listen to me or you... Urrr!" She walks over, stealing the other piece of toast. Rose doesn't seem to care.

After a little bit, Karkat gets to his feet again, opening the door and heading out to the kitchen, biting his lip a little as he sits in the doorway. "Sorry," he says.

Both Rose and Jade look to him, surprised, Jade with the toast hanging in her mouth. Rose clears her throat, offers him a small smile. "It's okay, Karkat. You just have to listen to us, okay? We only want what's best for you."

"I don't like listening," he says quietly, whisking his tail around behind him. "I... I don't like being ordered around."

"No one does, Karkat. But we know a bit more things than you right now. We just wanted you to go watch some tv so that you can learn. Go see for yourself." She points towards the tv in front of the couch, sesame street still playing on there.

Karkat looks over his shoulder at the TV, perking up curiously. Ignoring the girls again, he pads into the living room and sits in front of the TV, sniffing at it.

"He seems more... relaxed and open to reason now at least." Rose states, finishing off her toast and making some more for the three of them.

Jade nods her head, glancing at Karkat once more before leaning her elbows on the bench, watching Rose. "Yeah, much better."

Karkat pokes the screen, then flicks it, before leaning back and just watching.

"His mannerisms are interesting. I'm just trying to figure out which is his actual personality or just part of his childish demeanour." Rose speaks, Jade hums, thinking.

Karkat peaks up at the girls, then back away, getting quickly bored of the childish TV shows. After a while of just sitting there, he leans forward to sniff the buttons on the TV, accidentally pressing one with his nose. The channel is abruptly changed to sports, Karkat letting out a screech of surprise as he topples backwards away from the TV, ending up behind the couch and peeking over the back.

Jade turns and blinks, much like Rose, before giggling at Karkat. "Oh my god, are you okay, Karkat? It's not gonna hurt you, you know!"

Karkat sends an embarrassed hiss at Jade, before cautiously making his way back out from behind the couch, pressing the same button again, only flinching a little as the channel changes.

Rose watches him with interest, before the toast pops out of the toaster suddenly. Both she and Jade jump in surprise.

Karkat doesn't notice, too busy rapidly surfing through the channels. He stops on one channel, perking up at the sound of laughter from a studio audience. He sits back to watch what he later finds out to be the show Friends, watching it with much more interest than Sesame Street.

Jade moves around into the kitchen, grabbing out a plastic plate and putting a piece of toast on it for Karkat. She offers a smile to Rose who gives her the jam before returning to making two more pieces of toast for the girls.

Karkat looks up as Jade enters, tensing up a little, then relaxing again, and turning back to the TV.

Jade holds out the plate towards Karkat. "Look, I know you don't really like Rose or I that much right now, but we are trying to help. You just have to make our jb a bit easier, okay?" She moves the plate about a bit. "Here, it's toast."

Karkat looks up again, sighing a little and taking the plate from her with a small mumble of 'thank you'. "I'm sorry."

“Apology accepted." She gives him a smile, choosing to sit down next to him, looking at the tv. "Friends? Do you like this?"

"Yeah." Karkat nods a little, looking back at the TV as he blindly eats his toast. "They all look... different... from you guys."

"Well, they are adults. They are older than us. And no single person looks the same as another unless they came from the same parents at the same general time."

"Adults?" he inquires, looking over at Rose in curiosity.

"Older. They have been alive for longer." She explains, carrying over two plates and handing one to Jade, choosing to sit on the other side of Karkat.

"Alive." Karkat repeats the word, watching the screen again as he munches his toast, thinking. "Am I alive?"

"Yes, of course you are! All things that move, breath and grow are alive. Plants do movement, we do locomotion. If you see a plant doing locomotion, RUN!" She ends her mini rant with some laughter.

"Plants?" He licks his fingers of the crumbs, looking at Jade.

"Plants are... how do you even describe what a plant is?"

"A living organism of the kind exemplified by trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, ferns, and mosses, typically growing in a permanent site, absorbing water and inorganic substances through its roots, and synthesizing nutrients in its leaves by photosynthesis using the green pigment chlorophyll." Rose states like she read it all from a dictionary.

"Rose, don't break him!" Jade teases, taking a few bites of her toast.

Karkat doesn't say anything, not sure of anything she just said. He just looks back at the TV, frowning as he thinks.

"I don't understand," he mumbles.

"Don't worry about it, Karkat." Rose speaks, reaching a hand out and patting his shoulder gently. He flinches at the touch, though he's not sure why. She gently rubs his shoulder, hoping to soothe Karkat.

"Don't touch me..." he mumbles, shying away. Rose removes her hand politely, only feeling slightly offended though she doesn't show it. Jade doesn't even notice.

"So," he mumbles again, looking up. "Plants are... green and other colored stuff that grows in the ground and uses... photo-something to make energy, and absorb energy from the ground."

Rose nods, impressed that he remembered that much information. "Yes, photosynthesis it's called."

"And that means...?"

"The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to create foods from carbon dioxide and water."

"How do they do that?"

"It involves the green pigment chlorophyll, tiny little parts inside of a plant leaf."

"Then what happens?"

"It makes food which the plant eats to survive. To stay alive."

"Oh. And food... to them is like toast?"

"I guess you could say that." Jade giggles from the other side.

"Why don't we use cloro-what'sit then? Wouldn't that be easier?"

"The food provided is only enough to keep them growing, not to keep them moving and running and all the stuff that we can do. Food like what we eat provides us with more energy to do stuff."

"Stuff like what?" He shifts around a little, cocking his head as he half-watches the show.

"Well, plants cant run, plants can't walk, we can walk and run. We can talk and all that. A Plant is really simple compared to animals like you and I and Rose."

"Animals are any member of the kingdom Animalia, comprising multicellular organisms that have a well-defined shape and usually limited growth, can move voluntarily, actively acquire food and digest it internally, and have sensory and nervous systems that allow them to respond rapidly to stimuli: some classification schemes also include protozoa and certain other single-celled eukaryotes that have motility and animal-like nutritional modes."

Both Rose and Jade stare at him, shocked, surprised. He doesn't really realize what he said, cocking his head at the TV as he continues watching. He not sure where all that came from, but doesn't think too much about it.

"Well, that is... very good. Where did you learn that?" Rose casts Jade a sideways confused look.

Karkat blinks and looks at her. "Learn what?"

"Learn what an animal is."

"I... dunno." He shrugs in confusion. "I just did."

"...Maybe it was from before you can remember!" Jade suggests.

"What do you mean?"

"Like how people know how to count but can't remember who taught them or how they were taught it."

"But I... don't remember anything before meeting Dave..."

"That's what we mean. Like, how do you know how to use your body? Because it's already in your head!"

"Who put it there then? Who the fuck put it there?"

"How are we supposed to know?"

"You guys seem like you know everything... You certainly 'know what's best'."

"We 'know what's best', not 'know everything', Karkat. There's a difference."

He rolls his eyes. "I was being facetious."

"You like sarcasm?"

"I wouldn't say like... It just intrigues me..."

"You find it entertaining then?"

"Well, not exactly. I mean, yes? But not yours. Yours is annoying."

Rose simply smirks at that. "Why, I never would have guessed!"

"Ah, there it is." He sighs, knowing he walked into that one.

Jade giggles and covers her mouth, trying to keep quiet and failing.

"When is Dave getting back?" he asks suddenly.

"At about three."

"Three what?"

"Three in the afternoon."

"Three what in the afternoon?"

"It's a time. Like, right now it's..." She looks over to the clock on the wall. "Nearly eleven in the morning. That means we have to wait for four more hours until Dave gets back home."

"Hours? Time?" He frowns, sitting up a little. "I don't understand."

"Okay so there are sixty minutes in an hour, and sixty seconds in a minute. A second is like ooone, twoooo, threeee, fooouuur. It's been four seconds."

"Seconds? I... what is time?"

"The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole." Rose states, focused on the television the whole time.

"So... the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another."

"Yeeees... that is correct."

"Ah." Karkat nods, dropping it and looking back at the TV. Jade gets to her feet, collecting the empty plates from Karkat and Rose before skipping into the kitchen, placing the dishes in the sink after a quick rinse.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" Rose asks.

"A movie?" He glances sideways, cocking his head.

"Like what's on tv but more specific and with a better story line. Dave has plenty of movies."

"Are you sure Dave's movies are appropriate? I think there might be a bit too much violence in most of them..." Jade speaks, walking back over.

"I can handle anything, alright?" He chews his lip, more memory flashes cropping up, but keeping silent about them.

"If you say so... Dave's movies are over here, come pick one." Jade walks over to the collection stacked up on top of the other.

"Just pick one. Any one of them's good." He shrugs a little, chewing the tip of his tongue.

"Hmmmm... oh! How about... no, um... Die Hard?" She looks over to Rose and Karkat, the former shrugging.

"No," he says immediately.

"Um, okay, what about... okay, yeah, no, not Aliens. Um..."

"Aliens?" He perks up a little. "What's that?"

"Uh, aliens are beings from another planet, from outter space. The movie is really scary..."

"So... like me. The alien's thing, I mean?"

"Uh, well, we don't know if you are from another planet or not..."

"I am," he says.

"...Do you know what a planet is?"

"A celestial body moving in the sky, as distinguished from a fixed star, applied also to the sun and moon."

"So you're saying that you're an alien?"

"That's what..." He bites his lip, curling up a little and trying to think. "S-Someone said we were..."

Rose shuffles slightly closer, clearly worried. "Karkat, we don't think you any different than we do our friends, okay?"

"Yes, you do. You treat me differently. Don't even pretend you don't."

"I treat you like a human child. Still a human."

"You treat me like an animal."

"With... some human traits."

"No, as a child. A younger version of ourselves that doesn't fully understand reason."

"Liar." He gets to his feet, plodding back down towards Dave's room, and burying himself in the pile.

Rose lets out a sigh. "He doesn't understand, does he?"

Jade shakes her head, abandoning the DVD's and standing in the doorway of Dave's bedroom. "Karkat?"

"What?" he mumbles, head in his arms as he sighs.

"If we didn't like you as a friend we wouldn't be here right now. I just thought you should know that." She speaks, voice soft and quiet before she walks away.

Karkat sighs, curling up more and closing his eyes to wait for Dave to come back.

"I don't think he's going to come out any time soon..."

Rose nods. "Maybe we can watch a movie ourselves and be patient. We don't want to pressure him like before." Jade agrees and walks back to the movies, picking out Men in Black 3 and putting it on.

Karkat curls up tightly, closing his eyes again, then sits up suddenly, sneaking out of the room and heading for the kitchen silently. Neither of the girls notice him as he grabs a bottle of apple juice and goes back to the room, lying in a ball on Dave's bed instead.


End file.
